1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid container that is mounted on a cartridge mounting portion in a liquid ejection apparatus, such as an ink jet printer or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a liquid container that is mounted on a cartridge mounting portion in a liquid ejection apparatus, such as an ink jet printer or the like, an ink cartridge having the configuration shown in FIG. 14 has been suggested.
An ink cartridge 101 shown in FIG. 14 is disclosed in JP-A-5-16377 described below. The ink cartridge 101 has an ink pack 104 that has a flexible pouch body 102 containing an ink liquid and an ink outlet port 103 provided in the pouch body 102, and a rectangular cartridge case 105 that accommodates the ink pack 104 and is mounted on a cartridge mounting portion of a printer.
In the cartridge case 105, a boxlike case main body 106 having a top opened and a lid body 107 that covers the opened portion of the case main body 106 defines a pack accommodating space 105a that accommodates the ink pack 104.
The pouch body 102 is formed by stacking aluminum-laminated films and bonding their circumferential portions to each other using a heat welding method or the like. The aluminum-laminated films are obtained by forming a nylon film and a polyethylene film on both surfaces of an aluminum foil. In addition, the aluminum-laminated films are stacked such that their polyethylene films face each other.
As shown in FIG. 15, the ink outlet port 103 is configured such that a sealing plug 103b formed of an elastic material, such as rubber or the like, is press-fitted into and fixed to a cylindrical body 103a formed of plastic. A thin film portion 103c is provided on the sealing plug 103b close to the pouch body 102 so as to prevent the occurrence of eluted products and deposits of impurities due to the insertion of the sealing plug 103b that was brought into contact with ink.
A rear end of the cylindrical body 103a that is inserted between the superimposed portion of the aluminum-laminated films of the pouch body 102 and the cylindrical body 103a is heat-welded to the aluminum-laminated films. Accordingly, the ink outlet port 103 is incorporated into the pouch body 102 in an airtight manner.
As shown in FIG. 14, a pack positioning portion 106b is provided at a front-end side wall 106a of the case main body 106 so as to position the ink outlet port 103.
As shown in FIG. 15, the pack positioning portion 106b is a semicircular notch that is fitted into an anchoring groove 103d formed in an outer circumference of the cylindrical body 103a of the ink outlet port 103. With the engagement of the pack positioning portion 106b and the ink outlet port 103, a front end of the outer end of the ink outlet port 103 is positioned so as to slightly protrude from the cartridge case 105.
If the ink cartridge 101 that accommodates the ink pack 104 is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion of the printer, as shown in FIG. 15, an ink supply needle 108 provided in the cartridge mounting portion passes through the sealing plug 103b and the thin film portion 103c, such that the ink liquid within the pouch body 102 can be supplied to an ink supply portion of the printer connected to the ink supply needle 108.
If the ink cartridge 101 is mounted on the cartridge mounting portion of the printer in such a manner, the ink supply needle 108 of the printer is inserted into and connected to the exposed ink outlet port 103 at one end of the cartridge case 105. Then, when the ink cartridge is removed from the cartridge mounting portion of the printer for cartridge replacement, a small amount of a remaining ink liquid may leak to the ink outlet port 103 in a state where the ink supply needle 108 is extracted.
In the conventional ink cartridge 101, the front end of the ink outlet port 103 protrudes outside the cartridge case 105. For this reason, an ink liquid leaking from the ink outlet port 103 may drip within the printer and stain the inside of the printer. Further, the ink liquid may flow out from the case and stain the hand of a worker or peripheral matters.